Sarah Wasserman (swasserman@sir-inc.com) Novell, Inc. (NOVL) announced this morning that it will be acquired in a private-equity-led deal valued at $6.10 per share, or about $2.2 billion. Under the terms of the deal, an entity called Attachmate Corp. will acquire NOVL and operate the company as two different business units.
As a result, the stock has added 6.5% today, and is hovering just shy of the $6 level, around $5.96. Technically speaking, NOVL has been range-bound in the $5.60 to $6.40 neighborhood since March, when the tech concern jumped on rumors that a hedge fund had offered $1 billion for the company (NOVL later rejected that bid -- but said it was open to other prospects).
Call players have flocked to NOVL today, with volume swelling to seven times the daily norm. Over 8,500 of these bullishly oriented options have been exchanged today, compared to fewer than 1,800 puts.
Today's activity has centered on NOVL's December 6 call, with roughly 5,800 contracts changing hands -- the majority of which crossed the tape at the ask price, indicating they were likely purchased. However, with some 8,000 contracts currently open at this strike, it's unclear whether call players are buying to close short positions, or initiating fresh bullish bets on NOVL.
No comments:
Post a Comment